WOTBB 35 – When to stop playing…

Original date of blog: July 27th, 2015

Throughout this blog, I’ve talked about a lot of subjects, and I’ve often referred to all the noobs in the game, and how they ruined everything. I’ve always been hopeful it would get less bad. But, Wargaming, aside from literally breaking the game, seems to be making a very grand effort to ruin the game for us all.

They’ve recently opened up the game for unregistered users, and they’re about as noob as they come. They’re the guys that mostly do the 0 damage games, or just have no clue whatsoever when it comes to how to drive their tanks. It’s so frustrating. It’s like the Androiders all over again. And by now, I can’t even blame it on Android-users anymore, because they’re coming from everywhere. I need a new name for them. Noob isn’t insult enough, that’s for sure.

But it has had a profound effect on the pro-players in the game. I don’t know about everyone, but I can speak for the changes I’ve witnessed in my own clan. Our solo-ers don’t feel very comfortable playing anymore, because even if you do 6k or even 7k damage in a tier X game, it may not be enough to win the game, because your team is so bad they can’t do an ounce of damage.

A bunch of us have gone on hiatus because of it. They just can’t stand it anymore. And I get that. Even in a platoon, you can carry so hard and it will still not be enough. I don’t know if and when they’ll be back. The game just isn’t fun for them anymore. I miss them, but I understand them, and to be honest, I don’t care what any of them do, as long as they are happy, and as long as they contact me from time to time to let me know how they’re doing.

It’s just a game. It should never have the power to make you that angry or that frustrated that you can no longer enjoy it at all. And when you get so angry, so frustrated, that you want to throw your device against the wall, it’s time to take a break. Breathe in deep, exhale slowly, count to ten, etc. And if that doesn’t work, take a break for longer, delete the app, and regain your happiness and calm, and only come back when you no longer feel like you -need- to play, and the game can no longer ruin your entire day with a (few) bad loss(es).

But I find that for me, all the noobs give me a very funny side-effect. I’m getting more confident in my tanking. At least in the mid-tiers. I dare solo. Being a total platoon-whore (which my clan often makes fun of), that’s new for me. I even drive mediums, and getting to play heavies and all. It’s pretty weird, lol. When I shared a few of the epic games I’ve had with the Clan though, the reactions weren’t so much ‘great games!’, but more along on the line of ‘omg, you’re going solo?!’ and ‘omg, you’re driving a heavy?!’. I just love them

I’ve been platooning with Orca more often these last few months, and I’ve hung out on his clan’s ts-server. The attitude they have towards the game is just so refreshing. They play -just- for fun. Being with them on their ts is simply hilarious. They always crack me up. It’s awesome. And though they’re not all unicorns, I’ve learned so much from them.

Though I still look at my stats, I’ve let go of the hunt for good stats, of becoming a unicorn. I don’t care anymore. As long as I do my best, and as long as I have fun, I really don’t care. Of course, it’s always nicer to win than to lose, but in the end, as long as I’ve done my best, it doesn’t matter. And that has made the game very relaxing for me.

And that change, that lesson Phoenix taught me, is likely the reason I’m still playing the game at all, still leading a clan. Between the frustrations I’ve had leading the Clan, and the frustrations of the game, I’ve come very close to just leaving it all several times now. And it’s people like Orca and his clan that have kept me sane. There’s actually been a period where I hung out more with them than with my own Clan. Probably not the healthiest thing in the world, but it was what I needed.

It’s given me enough space and time to learn how to breathe again, and stock up on my patience and energy, to be able to give my own clan my 110% again. But that’s not all that’s changed. Since a few weeks, I’ve a new assistant to help me with the clan-stuff. A new right hand, if you will. And it’s absolutely perfect. Buffalo, when I talked to him about how done I was with it all, offered right then and there to step up and help me. And I’m so glad he did. He’s taken such a load off my shoulders. It’s been exactly what I needed.

I still don’t know how long I will play this game for. I have been playing it for little over a year now. The different tanks, the different people, it keeps it interesting, because no match is the same. And with all the different people I platoon with, it’s always different. There are 71 people in my Clan now, 71 different characters, 71 different tanking-styles. And that’s not even mentioning the 20+ clans on the EU-server whom I’m steadily adding to my friends list and platooning with too. And the kittens in our Academy CAT.

So that will definitely keep the game interesting for me. But the game itself has to remain fun as well. Of course, even when I don’t mind my ratings much anymore, I do want to win. And if I lose, I’d much rather it’s to a good enemy team. I’m not sure what Wargaming is doing, but with the discounts on things, the extra XP people get for their first victories… They’re very eagerly trying to make people advance as fast as possible without realising that just ruins the game for everyone else.

Way back when, when I started playing this game, I had to work hard for my first grind. Up until the Ferd, I didn’t understand gold, or premium account, or free XP. That meant that I didn’t get anywhere until the thing before it was fully developed. I had to play the tanks I drove a lot, thus, got to know those tanks very well and learned how to play at that tier before I could move on.

That kind of development has been next to non-existent for this influx of players. Though, while typing that, I realise that’s not entirely true. Yes, the newbies lack that kind of development, for sure, but there are people that have over 10k games that still lose way more than half their games. And that’s not an amount of games you play in just a few weeks. But I can’t help but wonder – if you lose so much, how can you enjoy the game? Or is it because you’ve never done better that you simply don’t know otherwise and think that this is the best there is? I can’t quite fathom it.

Or am I so biased because I run with unicorns that fart rainbows? If I wasn’t in LOCA, my ratings would be a lot worse than they are right now, and I wouldn’t have learned nearly as much as I have now, from my clansfolk and the folk of other clans. But does that mean I wouldn’t have enjoyed the game as much as I do now? Or does it mean that I wouldn’t mind the noobs as much as I do now? Stuff not really worth thinking about, really, because I can’t turn back the clock and find out.

And whether or not the seasoned players will leave indefinitely or not remains to be seen. I know the EU-server has been losing a lot of players. I doubt Wargaming understands the things that need to happen to turn back the clock on that. Because the noobs won’t keep the game turning. Yes, there will always be new noobs, but they’re the people that will lose interest after a month or two most likely, delete the game, and move on to a new app that catches their attention.

But the veterans that Wargaming is chasing away now, those are the ones that make the game worth playing, and the ones that would play the game for years on end. I think that in the end, we spend a lot more money on the game than the newbies do, so it has to be affecting Wargaming’s profit as well. What will Wargaming do about it, to fix things, to keep the players from leaving the game? Will we get better matchmaking? Will they make it less easy for noobs to climb through the tiers? Or compensate the pro’s somehow (unlikely, as that would be total discrimination, but a girl can hope 😉 )?

I’ve just learned that for now, Wargaming is giving us Clans. Not clan-wars, but the ability to list your clan in game and get a clan-tag behind your name. It doesn’t solve anything. But it’s a start, at least.